A Beautiful Friendship – IFC Celebrates 60 Years in Morocco
Over the past six decades, the partnership between Morocco and IFC has impacted millions of lives, creating jobs and opportunities and helping to drive sustainable growth. The North African country has also been the forerunner of pioneering transactions replicated on the African continent and beyond.
Bab Ighli, a neighborhood in the heart of Marrakech, is bustling. In early October, it will host thousands of delegates from around the world — heads of state, business leaders, representatives of civil society, and young leaders — at the 2023 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund. They will discuss our most pressing challenges, including climate change, gender equality, financial inclusion, food security, international trade, and building resilience within a livable planet.
Since the devastating earthquake in Morocco on September 8, World Bank and IMF staff have worked in close coordination with the Moroccan authorities and a team of experts to thoroughly assess Marrakech’s capacity to host the 2023 Annual Meetings. Based on a careful review of the findings, management of both the World Bank and the IMF, together with the Moroccan authorities, have agreed to proceed with holding the meetings in Marrakech. At this very difficult time, we believe that this will provide an opportunity for the international community to stand by Morocco and its people, who have once again shown resilience in the face of tragedy.
It is the first time the Annual Meetings will be held in Africa since Kenya hosted them 50 years ago, in 1973.
“This is a unique opportunity to highlight Morocco’s private sector achievements and its strong partnership with the World Bank and IFC. The partnership has been transformative, helping to create new opportunities and improve the lives of millions of citizens.”
For the past 60 years, IFC has been at the forefront of catalyzing investments, fostering sustainable development, and promoting economic growth in Morocco. IFC has supported the Kingdom’s strategy to position itself as a leading industrial and financial hub in Africa, with a strong and dynamic private sector spearheading the country's development.
IFC’s support for Morocco has been wide-ranging—and often groundbreaking. In 1963, IFC enabled the creation of Morocco’s first private equity fund (Euratlas). In 1994, IFC invested $6.1 million to establish the first stock market investment fund – the Framlington Maghreb Fund – to support the development of stock markets in Morocco and Tunisia. In 2017, IFC supported Banque Centrale Populaire in issuing the country’s first green bond in a foreign currency. In 2020, IFC provided the first commercial financing without a sovereign guarantee to a Moroccan region (Casablanca-Settat).
In total, IFC has worked with more than 100 partners in Morocco and mobilized and invested more than $3.5 billion in projects in the country to boost small businesses, manufacturers, agribusinesses, infrastructure development, and the financial sector.
That collaboration has driven transformative change in the North African country's private sector and is helping to underpin sustainable, inclusive economic growth.
André Laude, a former Chief Investment Officer for IFC, recalls the development of IFC's private equity fund in Morocco in 2000. The fund was a key innovation to provide equity for SMEs and filled a critical gap in the market.
Empowering cities
In Casablanca, Morocco’s economic capital, Mohamed Ait Hamou dances to the rhythmic clattering of tram wheels gliding along the tracks.
“It is my main transportation means because I have a limited budget. Thanks to the tramway, I can go to different places without spending too much money,” says the professional dancer. Mohamed danced at the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony in Qatar in 2022, which incentivized him to pursue a dance career.
He is also passionate about food, riding the city’s bustling tramway to attend cooking classes and complete his internships in the culinary arts. He now uses this sustainable means of transportation to head to the restaurant where he works as a cook to earn a living, between gigs.
In 2020, IFC provided the first-ever commercial loan in North Africa to a Moroccan subnational government without a sovereign guarantee – delivering $100 million in financing to Region Casablanca-Settat to fund high-impact infrastructure projects, including two tramway lines in Casablanca.
The project is expanding the existing tramway network in Morocco’s economic heart with an additional 39 stations and 26 kilometers of track, reducing travel times by up to 40 percent. IFC’s support is also helping to upgrade several hundred kilometers of roads in remote rural communities, connecting some 400,000 people to schools, hospitals, and other critical services.
Ultimately, the project reduces regional disparities and improves the everyday lives of Casablanca-Settat residents. In addition, it is helping the region transition to a more sustainable transportation system.
IFC is uniquely positioned to help municipalities meet their infrastructure and service needs by leveraging all the World Bank’s financial and technical assistance tools. IFC is also identifying flagship public-private partnership projects to support regional development.
Removing the barriers to gender equality
Before the first rays of sunlight pierce through the curtains, Sarra wakes up feeling optimistic and energized.
“Knowing that I am helping people get safely to their workplaces by driving the early morning bus gives me a sense of pride,”
After working for several years as a nurse – a typical female job in Morocco – Sarra changed paths and became a bus driver – a profession that is dominated by men – at Alsa, a leader in Morocco’s transport sector. She enjoys her early morning shifts as they allow her to pursue a law degree at university and spend time with her 10-year-old daughter.
Sarra is passionate about her job. She is thrilled to break stereotypes and contribute to changing perceptions about women in the workplace, especially in traditionally male-dominated sectors like transport.
Sarra’s company, Alsa, joined the Morocco4Diversity platform launched in 2020 by IFC and the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM) to strengthen the capacity of companies to better recruit, retain and promote female talent in the workplace.
Along with nearly 60 other leading businesses across Morocco, Alsa committed to making the company and the sector more inclusive and diverse.
The Morocco4Diversity project has made a significant difference in a country that’s long experienced declining female labor market participation, with just 20 percent of women working. Reversing this trend has been a persistent challenge. Many women who want to work are discouraged by the lack of workplace policies, practices, culture, and infrastructure to support their entry and advancement.
With the Morocco4Diversity platform, IFC created a community of Moroccan employers who are championing jobs for women. IFC also worked with two of the country’s largest employers to assess gender gaps in their respective workplaces and develop a gender action plan for each company. This helped them obtain the first level of Gender EDGE Certification, a leading global assessment methodology and certification standard for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion at work.
IFC’s efforts to reduce gender inequality support Morocco’s new development model, which puts gender equality at its heart and aims to increase the country’s female labor force participation rate to 45 percent by 2035.
Fostering green innovation
As a student of engineering at the Hassania School of Public Works in Casablanca, Youness Ouazri embarked on a journey to find innovative solutions to the problem of substandard housing.
He began by looking at what his Moroccan ancestors had built, especially with clay. That was the start of Eco-Dôme Morocco, an innovative construction startup that builds sustainable dome-shaped houses and infrastructure for rural tourism, which he created in 2016.
The innovation lies in the use of natural local clay, which provides acoustic and thermal insulation in houses without the need for heating or air conditioning. That means they generate fewer greenhouse gases than traditional concrete houses and are also less expensive to build.
Eco-Dôme Morocco is part of the Green Business Booster program launched in 2019 by IFC and Cluster EnR – a non-profit association comprising all the players in Morocco’s renewable energy space – to boost the country’s green startup ecosystem. It brings together 32 companies offering environmentally friendly solutions to help Morocco mitigate climate-related challenges.
The program set out to create early-stage investment opportunities for climate entrepreneurs and investors through training, one-on-one support, and networking events with key market players, including financiers. That helped unlocked the capacity of one of the cleantech ecosystem’s main players.
“I had the technical knowledge, but the Green Business Booster enabled me to understand the financial side of my project. The training enabled me to secure other sources of financing, such as from international organizations such as GIZ and the Dutch embassy.”
His aim now is to replicate the project as widely as possible – to develop the eco-tourism sector and boost sustainable infrastructure in line with the vision of Morocco’s Tourism Ministry. He is currently building dome-shaped houses in the Oum Azza region, on the outskirts of the capital Rabat, and in the Khemisset region, with the support of local investors.
Youness also wants to duplicate his project across Africa. With his team, he has explored opportunities in Tunisia – since the North African country has a similar culture and regulatory framework to Morocco – and in the Ivory Coast, thanks to the good diplomatic relations the Moroccan kingdom enjoys with its neighbor.
"In Morocco, we share a cultural and historical heritage - a way of life - with the rest of Africa. Africans used to build anything with what they find under their feet. We want to revive this heritage.”
Published in September 2023